The 48 Laws Of Power

mationabouttheirmasters’

comings

and

goings,changes

in

taste,

and

othersuchtidbitsofinformationthatwould
put

hima

step

ahead.Arival

ofDuveen’swhowantedtomake
Henry

Fricka

clientnoticed

that

when-

everhevisitedthis

wealthy

New

Yorker,

Duveenwastherebefore

him,

as

ifhehadasixthsense.TootherdealersDuveenseemedtobe

everywhere,

andtoknow

everything

before

they

did.His

powersdiscouraged

anddis-

heartened
them,

until

manysimplygaveupgoing

afterthe

wealthy

clients

whocouldmakeadealerrich.

Suchis

the

power

ofartful

spying:

Itmakes

you

seem

all—powerful,

clairvoyant.

Your

knowledge

of

your

markcanalsomake

you

seemcharm-

ing,

sowellcan

you

anticipate

hisdesires.Nooneseesthesourceof

your

power,

andwhat

they

cannot

see

they

cannot

fight.

Rulers

see

throughspies,

ascows

through

smell,

Bmhmins

through

scriptures

andtherest

of

the

peoplethrough

theirnormal

eyes.

Kantily/1,

Indian

philmoplm;

third

amtury

3.1:.

KEYSTOPOWER

Intherealmof
power,
your

goal

isa

degree

ofcontroloverfutureevents.

Partofthe

problemyou

face,then,

isthat

people

won’ttell

you

alltheir

thoughts,

emotions,

and

plans.Controlling

what

theysay,they

often

keep

themostcritical
parts

oftheir

character

hidden—their

weaknesses,

ulterior

motives,
obsessions.Theresultisthat
you

cannot

predict

their

moves,

and

are

constantly

inthedark.Thetrickistofinda

way

to

probe

them,

tofind

outtheirsecretsandhidden
intentions,

without

letting

themknowwhat

you

are

up

to.

Thisisnotasdifficultas

youmight

think.A

friendly

front

willlet

you

secretlygather

informationonfriendsandenemiesalike.Letotherscon-

sultthe

horoscope,

orreadtarotcards:Youhavemoreconcretemeansof

seeing

intothefuture.

Themostcommon

way

of

spying

is

to

use

other

people,

as

Duveen

did.Themethodis

simple,powerful,

but

risky:

Youwill

certainlygather

in-

formation,
but
you

havelittlecontroloverthe

people

whoare

doing

the

work.

Perhaps

they

will

ineptly

reveal

yourspying,

oreven

secretly

turn

againstyou.

Itisfarbettertobethe

spyyourself,

to

pose

asafriendwhile

secretlygathering

information.

The

French

politicianTalleyrand

wasoneofthe

greatest

practitioners

ofthisart.Hehadan

uncannyability

towormsecretsoutof

people

in

pa-

liteconversation.A
contemporary

of

his,

Baronde

Vitrolles,wrote,

“Wit

and
grace

markedhisconversation.He

possessed

theartof

concealing

his

thoughts

orhismalicebeneatha

transparent

veilof

insinuations,

words

that

implysomething

morethan

theyexpress.Only

when

necessary

didhe

inject

hisown

personality.”

The

key

hereis

Talleyrand’sability

to

suppress

himselfinthe
conversation,

tomakeotherstalk

endlessly

aboutthemselves

and

inadvertently

revealtheirintentionsand

plans.

LAW 14 103